Elric Galad

(once again, sorry for the multiple post, but I think this one should be the last of the analysis) So now it's Chanter turn. One thing to keep in mind with Chanters is that all their summons share the exact same pool of ressources. So if each one has not a clear role, it will be completely useless (meanwhile a Druid may sometimes cast Lesser Blight only because it's his last Spell Tier with a Summon). Skeletons : Will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. They start as poor so they have "fine" weapons at level 20. Scaling will not apply to split skeletons (for some reasons, they benefit from difficulty level scaling, so not applying scaling is the best way to make sure they stay "lesser"). Role : Skeletons are here for their numbers. They're fine at it (and have much combo potential). Note : Scaling will not apply to "Many Lives..." phrase skeletons (because they don't scale anyway). Phantom : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Phantom upgrade duration : 25s -> 60s. Role : with such a duration, Phantom will be design as "summon and forget" for those chanters that don't like summons but still want an extra body. He's cheap, he stays for long so I think it's a good niche for him. Wurms : Will scale at levels 13, 17. Upgrade cost : 4 phrases -> 3 phrases (I have already aligned all chanter upgraded invocations with the cost of their original ability ; I want to keep this principle : an upgrade should be a strict upgrade, as for all other abilities / classes) Role : Wurms are cheap ranged brute force. If you look at the table, they have pretty good attack strength for their cost, especially when upgraded. So I don't want to "overscale" them. I don't want cheaper Ancient Weapons... ! 2 scaling is just enough to bring them to 11 PEN, which is kind of "default PEN" for level 20 weapons. Wisps : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Role : Wisps are utility-based summons and I think they are in a good spot for Interrupting / Distracting. Full scaling won't do much for their lowish attack but will at least bring them to 11 PEN. Ogres : Will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. Role : Tanks with damage dealing potential. With a bit of armor scaling, they will become tougher than Animated Weapons. Oh, and they have this wonderful 3 base Engagements. I want to make sure they don't reach Animated Weapon DPS potential. They have a slow attack rate (due to their recovery), so it's ok. However they will still do okay damages in melee with a bit of scaling (they needed PEN scaling to stay relevant). Drake : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Duration 25s -> 35s. To add : Ground Immunity, Fear Aura and Dex Resistance that all other drakes have (Dragon Summon gets an improved version of Fear Aura). 2 Knockdowns -> 3 1 Fire Breath -> 2 Role : Drake is on a weird spot : it is basically a lesser version of Dragon Summon, but is not that much cheaper. It comes alone (well till its death), but its barely OK stats don't really give him an edge over multiple summons (Ogres or Weapons for example). Its upgrade require it to die to be useful, which may not happen reliably. That's why I think it deserved a good buff. Stat-wise, first, with full scaling. I also added the classic resistances and fear aura of other Drakes. Even with this, I doubt that it matches the raw power of Ogres and Weapons, that's why I want to increase the number of uses of its AoE abilities, to give him an edge over them (especially Ogres who have a bit of AoE themselves). Even with all this, Drake remains a weaker dragon. That's why I wanted to emphasize its longer duration side since its the only logical edge he can get over a grown-up. The result, I hope, is a well-rounded summon who can tank a bit, attack a bit, have some AoE and utility, has an average summoning cost and last for a decent duration (but less than hey phantom). Dank Spore : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Duration 25s -> 35s. Role : Dank Spore is an utility summon, but still a bit weak since its charm ability has a long casting/recovery and its upgrade's stinky cloud can be tricky to use. Some scaling will help it a bit (the current version already scale in a weird way for some reason), as well as a slightly longer duration (which also help getting sure he stays long enough to be killed). Animated Weapons : Are currently already fully scaled. No change. Role : Summons so good I had to analyse all other summons to make sure they could be relevant in front of them. Great brute force with a bit of Prone attacks from Animated Pike. Dragon : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 (well, it will be fully scaled at level 19 when you get it) In addition to scaling, I'm going to change Dragon stats because they currently don't make sense, with a bottomless pit of health but lower AR and attack than the drake ! - Armor 7->10(+4 from scaling) with resistance to Fire and Slash and vulnerability to pierce. (Based on the (scaled) version of the Drake, +1 AR) - Health 200 + 50/level -> 100 + 30/level - Attack : 16-22 CRU/PIER, 7 PEN, normal attack speed -> 20-26 CRU/PIER, 9 PEN, fast attack (+scaling) (this is based on the drake attack, but slightly improved) Role : the ultimate summon, but not the best at everything. Its defense will be good, and HP the best, but multiple summons could still have more total HP and AR is not significant vs everything in PotD upscaled. The Dragon is mostly about AoE. It is also good at tanking but it has a rather low duration (less benefit from PL). I don't think improving its auto-attack is that significant because the dragon should mostly use its special attacks. But a 7 PEN attack was not noble enough for this creature. Its fear Aura also brings a bit of utility.

OK, so as for Sun & Moon, it should have separate effect for night & day. <Brainstorming on> By Night, Night Club has a chance to Charm Target on hit (vs Will, so good Synergy with the Modal). Can be improved with Dominatrix upgrades that upgrades Charmed to Dominated. By Day, Night Club has "Clean up the Mess" mod that cause -5s Hostile effect when hitting allies. Can be improved with "Secret Reveler" to 10s. Has mod Drug Dealer that causes one of the drug effect on target (Ally or foe) for short duration... that causes a crash when wear off. Has mod Hard Beat that has a chance to cause a lasting effect that Interrupt target every 3s. Mutual exclusiveness to be debated. <Brainstorming off>

I think this weapon could have a great potenial as a on a Beguiler. Granted you need to be either multiclassed with a druid or with a druid in your party (or maybe... scrolls ?), but the effect of +2 PL would be pretty great with your Deception Spell refund and your Cipher spells in general. Disintigrate also benefit a lot from PL. It's almost like being ascended all the time. You would need another backup weapon for sure. Maybe with a Fighter Multiclass for Quickswitch (and general fighter goodness) ?

As I said yesterday, I wasn't fully convinced because of 2 issues : - Inequal summons. Multiple summons just feels better. Just too much. - Risk of making priest into top tier summon spammers, which they aren't meant to be. The PL malus was the limitating factor for Incarnate, so they could only spam Spiritual Ally without backfire. So I'm going to address this the following way : Change -5 PL malus for 30s into stacking -1 PL malus for 300s (instead of -2 PL for 30s) EDIT : mmm 180s will be enough. This is supposed to make using Incarnate once not too bad, but using it several times in a row (especially thanks to Brilliant) more punishing. I could have made it last the whole battle, but I wanted to leave hope for Megaboss encounters, especially for a High Resolve build. 300s will not stop at the end of the fight, because I wanted to make the stacking malus relevant even if Brilliant is not used (at least for for vibe, the player can still way for the effect to wear off). Incarnate really felt like a "last resort" ability, not something one should use everytime, and I wanted to keep this feeling. Note that is also meant to mitigate the inequality between Subclasses' Incarnate. Use Incarnate Tiers to compensate for Subclasses Tiers There are 3 Priests subclasses Tiers for me (and Thelee's Gamefaqs is more or less aligned with it), leaving Woedica apart from the debate because no Incarnate and Gaun and Rymrgand too because their incarnate are good enough and pre-determined Companions can be a litte stronger : - Tier A : Wael and Skaen because they bring completely new abilities the class. - Tier B : Berath and Magran, cause they bring many abilities, but not as "new" as the other (other damages spells aren't exactly new compare to Invisibility or Defense self-buffs) - Tier C : Eothas, cause he only brings his symbol and Sunbeam. Eothas still okay for MC cause it saves a lots of ability points for "classic" priest abilities, which is relevant in this case, but is very meh for SC. Incarnates are currently the following tier : - Tier A : Eothas (3 almost always better than 1) - Tier B : Berath (2 almost always better than 1 and worse than 3) - Tier C : Magran, Wael and Skaen. So I came to the conclusion that Magran's Incarnate can be buffed to match the power of Berath's pair. With Magran on Tier B, we will have a perfect mirror of Subclass Tiers. Magran's Incarnate is going to be a Defensive Juggernaut, Impervious to Hostile effect with a level of attack comparable to Skaen (but without Sneak Attack, so Skaen would still be better at pure damage dealing). I will set its CON to 25 (nearly as much HP as Skaen's), RES to 25 (-45% Hostile effect duration, feel free to add an Inspiration on top of that). Armor would be changed to 14 AR without weakness apart Cold and its Recovery would be lowered from +67% to +34% (this value comes from a Fighter with Armored Grace wearing a heavy armor. This is suitable for Magran who is an Armored Garce, pardon my French)

Oh my bad, too fast reading... My vote for purple

Well, there is already this (even if technically not a torch) : https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/St._Drogga's_Skull

Thank you for believing ! I'm not that confident myself, especially about the 2 multi summons, Berath and Eothas, which were already pretty good. For Magran, Skaen and Wael, I'm about sure it won't break the game.

It comes from here : https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Night_Club But I have not been thinking about stats that much. Also I love club modal but I don't love that much the current Unique Ones, so...

Oh yes I want a Night Club !

What I intend to do for Priests (sorry for the multiple posting but I write this when I have time) : Spirtual Ally :Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 (Mace, Armor & Shields) Tune down duration to 25s because scaling weapons make him much better at high level and it was already a decent summon. In practice, Spiritual Ally seldom dies in battle so lower duration will makes it last less. It will poke much harder, but it will not change his non-weapon abilities (heal & corrode cone). Incarnates : First, I will lower the PL penalty to -2 PL because it makes the ability a bit too committing to use. I will also lower the duration to 30s since it was affected by PL malus to compensate. Now for specific Incarnates, they are mostly buffed (bar Rymrgand's), but I think they will not exceed the level of quality expected from a Tier IX Spell, especially considering you don't directly control them and get a PL malus : - Eothas : Equipment set to Legendary Quality. Note that this is basically the same as Full scaling since Incarnate is a spell you get at level 19, after the last scaling. Eothas trio is arguably the strongest incarnate, but since SC Eothas priest are also the ones that get the less non-priest bonus spells, I would say this is legit. - Berath : Equipment set to Legendary Quality too (including Pallid Knight armor which was basic : she had no more armor than the Usher...). Pallid Knight & Usher would be indeed a strong duo. - Magran : Weapon set to Legendary Quality, armor upgraded to Rathun Lord quality (+2AR). - Skaen : get 2 scaling bonus (+2 PEN, + 8 Acc, +30% damages with weapons, +2 AR). Skaen felt a tad weak, especially PEN / AR, so I think this will fit. - Wael : get 4 scaling bonus (+4 PEN, + 16 Acc, +60% damages with weapons, +4 AR). Wael's Incarnate is basically a greater blight with better stats but without greater blight ultimate ability (it is limited to normal blight's ones). I will also give him +10 CON so its health pool is more in line with other Single Incarnate. I will also add +5 DEX, +5 PER : since Wael is only auto-attacking it is good to make it at least good at that ! - Rymrgand : No changes to this monster.

Well, I'm not judging a person here, but a fantasy game character. My main grudge is about why they made her so bitter in PoE2, while she looked prouder in PoE1 even if she was already distant and unhappy about her condition. Vatnir seems to carry more nuances, even if he is even angrier.

Agree on that. But the fleshing was not great IMHO. Technically, they did. Godlikes are strongly suggested to be created by gods. At this point in her life, she even doesn't have many problems, apart for being sterile and not being able to wear helmet. Some may find her weird, but some others will basically look up to her special status. It's not like she was a Godlike of Ryrmgand for example. And Vatnir clearly doesn't complain as much. In spite of his cowardice, he seems better at looking at the bright side and coping with his condition... Durance has a least a style.

My first Playthrough included Pallegina, and I really disliked her. She was not like this in PoE1, not that much at least. And it was so annoying to avoid messing with the Valians because of her. Eventually I sided with the Rautais, and I had to face her as "Final Boss". Haha, good fun !

As a rule of Thumb, Under-utilized weapons are mostly due to bad Unique ones. Some weapons with meh Modal still get used in spite of that (sabers' modal is meh for example) Small shields are nice because of no accuracy malus. Weyc's shield is nice when paired with Empowering Equipment such as Sasha's Scimitar or Weyc's wand. Self-damaging modal is nice for glass cannonish playstyle and synergizes extremely well with Monks.

Thx ! This is not what I meant. I wondered if Pollen Patch effect ([Plant]) from another team member or yourself is active, does it activate +2 ALL PL from the Lance ? Anyway, you a druid in your paty is enough. +2 All PL can have so many uses...

Ngati's Tusk is a really cool weapon for party support. Unless you play devoted, you don't have to specialize toward Pikes from the start to be able to use them. Does Lance of the Midwood Stag PL Bonus Stacks with other PL Bonus ? Sounds like a very strong if it does. Does it work with Pollen Patch ?

Well, I guess there are several option. The reason I want it to become an AoE is to make it different from Rust Armor. Of course, AoE vs Single Target would lead to different numbers of procs for balance purpose. Oh, thanks for pointing this.

Okay, so here what I plan to do with druid (already coded and tested for Greater Blights and Call of the Primordials) : General Principle (also appliable to other classes) : Scaling may happen at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Each scaling add +4 Acc, +15% damages, +1 PEN for weapons (spell-like abilities are unaffected) and +1 AR in addition to +3Acc/All Defenses that every creatures get. This is identical to already scaling creatures such as Pets or Animated Weapons (or summoned Weapons and Armors). But since some summons start very strong, they may not get all the scaling levels. There would be 5 categories : - Some summons will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 (full scaling, for a total of +16 Acc, +60% damages, +4 PEN and +4 AR) - Some summons will scale at levels 9, 13, 17 - Some summons will scale at levels 13, 17 - Some summons will scale at level 17 (theoritical for the moment) - Some summons will not scale at all (for example Ryrmgand Incarnate is strong enough and do not require any scale. It might be interpreted as if the base stats of the creature already include Fine / Exceptional / Superb / Legendary weapons and armors. However, the main goal is balancing the various abilities. So low level summons may also get fewer scaling levels. In addition, I may change other stats of the Summon Spells or Summoned Creatures for various purposes. Side note : the changes will not affect the Bestiary creature that the summoned is based on. Ondra's Whip, Watery Double, Lashing Vine : no changes. I think these abilities are balanced as they are (and they all scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 ). Summon Sporelings : Will scale at levels 13, 17 only. These summons are already very tanky for their spell Tier, with very good duration. They are subclass-specific so I feel it is legit if they are a bit stronger, but full scaling would probably be too much. All Blights Summons : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. I think these spells needed a bit of a buff, so full scaling felt suitable. In addition, since each Tier of Blight summon basically gives +1PEN, AR and damages (as well as a new ability), their stats would be very similar if Minor Blights scaled more than normal and greater ones. Higher Tier summons should be stronger than lower Tier counterparts, that's why I gave max scaling to all of them. Call to the Primordials : Scaling will depend on the Ooze : Greater Black Ooze will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. Adra Ooze will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. Magma Ooze will scale at levels 13, 17. Bog Ooze will not scale at all. (The difference is based on the base level of the creature, but they all end up with 11 PEN) Call to the Primordials nerfed to summon only 2 Oozes. This spell already feels too strong so I want to seize the opportunity to make it more in line with other summons. Fire Stag : (already scales at levels 5, 9, 13, 17) (minor) Change its fire shield so it procs on damages as other fire shields, and not on Hit/Crit. Set Engagement limit to base 3, so it can be more focused on being a decoy. Adjust base damages to 13 - 19 with PEN 8 (equivalent of a sword with +2 PEN and fast attack rate), so it feels potent for a summon of this Tier. Remove the possibility to abuse Barring Death Door for multiple self-destructions. Possibly adjust the self-destruction effect (maybe no friendly fire, also proc if the creature is killed ?) Aspect of Galawain : (already scales at levels 5, 9, 13, 17) Adjust base damages to 13 - 19 with PEN 8 (equivalent of a sword with +2 PEN and fast attack rate), so it feels potent for a summon of this Tier. Wolf would get higher base damage. Adjust armor base 5 AR -> base 8 AR, 25% recovery -> 0% recovery. Bear would get +2 AR. (they would basically get the equivalent of Spiritshift armors) Add a Prone on Hit effect to its base attack (EDIT : only Interrupt on Hit since the beast has very high attack rate) so it feels like a living Concelhaut Crushing Doom (or Animated Pike and its plentiful Knockdowns). This is meant to be similar to pet's takedowns since the ability is already based on Ranger's pet. Please tell me what you think of these changes, especially if something feels too powerful.

You're pretty much pointing the reason why I dislike this ability that much. OTHER classes don't have anything comparable except Light of Eothas which is a Tier IX Priest spell. BUT Paladins get another Party Heal on Tier IX : Light of Pure Zeal. It's expensive but still more cost effective. 100 Heal base is enormous, and doesn't decrease on secondary targets. So only jump range could justify Healing Chain, but overall I find it quite redundant and a bit... Uninspired (I mean, in addition to be overcosted). That's why it's one of the few abilities that I completely reworked for my mod.

My idea was to make it 2.5m radius, rise to 5 the number of procs (and remove the Interrupt part ). AoE would help diffentiating it with Rust Armor when trying to Bypass AR. Major problem with these 2 spells is that they are on Tier IV - V which happen to be incredibly good for Druids. So if you put on these levels a Chillfog-like spell... err no. EDIT : revised my judgement a bit. It's the most damaging spell of its Tier, so I guess it's OK. Wall of Thorns has to compet with Relentless Storm and does not even do as much damages as Fire Wall (okay it has an affliction effect...). EDIT : I also don't like Poison Keyworded spells in general, and Druid has a bit too much CON affliction based on Poisons for my tastes. It feels overall a bit redundant with Venombloom, less convenient and less powerful. I'm not sure what to do with these 2 spells (that I thematically like) Weapon/armor scaling is good enough for blight. They have nice Activable abilities. Also consider I will nerf Call of the Primordial to 2 Oozes after adding a bit of weapon scaling. This spell is too good and you can have only 1 Summon spell active so it makes all the other pale in comparison. I was considering this indeed. Honnestly, 30s +20% Action speed and a bit of healing if good enough in my opinion. That's the only Party Wide pure action speed buff (bar indirect one from Chanter). I was even considering removing MIG and PER buff but I can let them for what it worths. Not sure about removing weirdness. I don't mind it personnally and since it's not the only ability with this effect (Lay on Hand...), it will require the same treatment for the others. I was leaning to adding Interrupt on Hit and decreasin casting time to 0.5s and 4.5s recovery. This would be a way to promote the big range. Spell isn't a keyword. Maybe by making it into a per encounter ability ? It would be a bit weird, but why not ? Agreed, I only spoke about spell but I had this in mind too. My idea was to change the effect to a On Crit proc. So it synergizes with the new Entropy. It does slightly more damage per tick, last twice as long and proc twice more often. But I would tend to agree that a spell designed for melee could be better with shorter casting time. So maybe a slight buff to 3s/3s casting/recovery ? Was on my radar too. Reducing casting time to about instant is an option I considered too. If last 10% is to finish a Boss, it worths it. You don't strictly have to choose. I don't like auto-hit but an Accuracy bonus such as Thunder Rolls upgrade could be nice. Does this kind of effect apply on Graze ? Agree too. I will try to think about something. Pull of Eora doesn't sound too tornado, but "Vertical Launch" status has parameters. So maybe there is a way to increase the time spent in the air to something fun. Other option I can think is to give it a crazier AoE such as 7.5m or even 10m.

Given that I'm working on a Mod myself, I will point the list of spells that need buffs : - Entropy (3 Hit to Crit proc on a Single Creature is bad for a Tier VIII) - Wicked Briars - Wall of Thorns - Most summons except Call of the Primodials (slightly too strong, would nerf), Lashing Vine (pretty much Okay with its level 20 14 PEN) and Watershapers special ones. Blights scale poorly (weapons and armor don't scale), and Fire Stag and Aspect of Galawain are simply too weak. I'm working on it at the moment. - Nature's Bounty but more because it's cumbersome to use. I would probably tweak it into a weaker direct effect. I would also buff Sunlance a bit (add an Interrupt effect) but that's because Druids lack a well-rounded spell for Tier VI. All other spells are more or less okay for me. I agree with the Trinket idea, but they should be less powerful than wizard's in my opinion (only 1 spell per Tier, since Druids get 1 for free and Flexibility is the core identity of Wizards).

Hard Crowd Control effects were brutal in PoE1. This could destroy a not well prepared party. Remember base Lagufaeth and their Paralysis effect ? High level monks ? Adragans ? Health also made Healing pretty annoying. In PoE2, you can tank anything with enough healing. Having a Priest in your party slowly made you invicible on High Levels though. Party Buffs were so strong and immunity towards afflictions basically cancel my first point for prepared parties. The only thing that could still beat you on High level was basically Adra Dragon Breath because it was so strong it could kill several party members before you are buffed and/or the dragon is Crowd Controlled.

Well, you did. Not enough IMHO, but you did I think I pretty much know the content of CP as well as the base rule. TBH it's pretty hard to draw the line between legit modding and ruthless powercreeping <getting back to add weapon/armor scaling to all summons>.

I could imagine having a whole party under the effect of Nimble through Hastening Exhortation branding all foes or spamming White Flames could be efficient or fun. I like the idea behind this ability, but it is too short, too small AoE and too long casting time (OR too expensive). Last time I picked it I seldom used it. On contrary, all 3 Tier I abilities are excellent and cheap, so... For I mod, I felt that I had to tweak all Paladin active abilities except these 3 and Rez Command .

They really dropped the ball with Paladin PL 2 to 9 for active abilities. Apart the rez Command which can situationnally save your day, all are meh to bad (overcosted is their main pb). That said Divine Retribution is good enough to justify Single Class. It can even lead to pretty hilarious party build with several SC Paladins involved because Knock Out would result in a net Zeal gain.